W. A. Mozart: Requiem (KV 626, Süßmair Version)

When Wolfgang Amadé Mozart died on 5 December 1791, he left his Requiem in D minor (K. 626) unfinished. By the time of his death on 5 December 1791, he had only written down the opening movement of the Introit (Requiem aeternam) with all the orchestral and vocal parts. The following Kyrie and most of the Dies irae sequence (from the Dies irae to the Confutatis) were completed only in the vocal parts and the figured bass; in addition, some important orchestral parts (such as the trombone solo in the Tuba mirum, and more often the voice of the first violins) were briefly sketched. The last movement of the sequence, the Lacrimosa, broke off after eight bars and remained incomplete. The following two movements of the Offertory, the Domine Jesu Christe and the Hostias, were again elaborated in the vocal parts and partly in the continuo.

Through intermediaries acting for the eccentric Count Franz von Walsegg, Mozart was commissioned to compose a Requiem. The Count, who was an amateur musician and often commissioned works only to pass them off as his own composition (a practice that was widespread at the time), requested a Requiem to be performed in memory of his recently deceased wife. Mozart received half the payment in advance, so after Mozart's death his widow Konstanze was keen to have the work completed quickly and secretly by someone else so that she could deliver it as Mozart's composition and collect the remaining payment. At first she turned to Joseph Eybler. He worked on the orchestration of the movements from the Dies irae to the Lacrimosa, but then returned the commission.

The work was then entrusted to Franz Xaver Süßmayr, composer and pupil of Mozart, who was able to draw on Eybler's work for the orchestration. Süßmayr completed the orchestration of the Sequence as well as the Offertory, finished the Lacrimosa and composed further movements: Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei. Then he completed the Communio (Lux aeterna) by repeating the two opening movements, which Mozart had still composed himself, and underlaying them with the text of the Lux aeterna.

The completed composition, begun by Mozart and largely completed by Süssmayr, was given to Count Franz von Walsegg with Mozart's forged signature and dated 1792. The confusion surrounding the circumstances of this Requiem composition was largely spread by Mozart's widow Konstanze herself. Konstanze had a difficult task ahead of her: she had to keep the secret that Mozart had died before completing the composition so that she could claim the balance of the payment for the commissioned work. For a time, she had to keep secret that Süssmayr was involved with the composition in order to make Count Walsegg believe that he had Mozart's work in his hands. After receiving the balance of the fee, she had to promote the work as Mozart's composition in order to continue to use it as a source of income for publications and performances. During this phase, it was still important to make the public believe that Mozart had composed the entire work himself in order to extract higher sums from publishers and public performances. It is thanks to Konstanze that the first half-truths and myths began to circulate almost immediately after Mozart's death. She claimed that Mozart had declared that he was writing the Requiem for himself and that he had been poisoned. His condition deteriorated and he began to complain of painful swelling of his body and high fever. Despite all this, Mozart continued to work on the Requiem and even on the last day of his life he explained to his assistant how he intended to end the work. Even in biographies written shortly after Mozart's death, there are numerous inconsistencies that make it almost impossible to solve all the mysteries surrounding Mozart's last composition.

A. Salieri: Das Lob der Musik

As a short 5-minute additional piece, we will sing Antonio Salieri's "Das Lob der Musik" (In Praise of Music), as both the 200th anniversary of his death and his 275th birthday are commemorated in 2025. You will receive the score with your registration. There will be no overdubbing, but there will be a concert recording. However, Erasmus Baumgartner is already looking forward to rehearsing the work with the participants.

Antonio Salieri: „Das Lob der Musik“:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

The youngest child and only surviving son of the Austrian composer Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus received his early musical education from his father. His musical talent was evident from the very beginning, and as a result Mozart is considered one of the greatest musical geniuses of all.

At the age of six, Wolfgang and his very talented sister "Nannerl" went on their first major tour with their father to the most important ruling courts of Europe, where they delighted audiences with virtuoso concerts on the harpsichord. This concert tour was to be followed by many more. Of all the places where Mozart gave concerts during his travels, it was Italy where he received the greatest joy and recognition.

After that followed a rather disappointing period for father and son. As Mozart grew older, his popularity waned and he initially had trouble finding work. Eventually Mozart was offered the position of court and cathedral organist by the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. At the beginning of 1781, the commissioned work, the opera Idomeneo, was premiered in Munich for the Regent of Bavaria. The success of the opera strengthened Mozart's decision to move to Vienna, where he was favorably received by the nobility.

He thus spent the last ten years of his life, often in straitened financial circumstances, in Vienna with his wife, the singer Constanze Weber. Initial success with German and Italian opera and with a large number of concerts was followed by a period of great financial difficulties. Although this development had no direct effect on Mozart's music, it eventually destroyed his health. Mozart became seriously ill and died on the morning of December 5, 1791. Mozart was buried in an ordinary tombstone-less grave in Vienna, at the St. Marx cemetery.

J. Haydn: Harmoniemesse (Hob. XXII: 14)

Joseph Haydn's Harmoniemesse in B flat major (Hob. XXII:14) is his last major sacred work and a worthy conclusion to his church music career. First performed in 1802, the mass is one of the six late masses that Haydn composed for Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy. The name “Harmoniemesse” is not derived from a particular harmony, but from the prominent use of wind instruments (“Harmoniemusik”), which develop a festive and sonorous character in combination with the choir and orchestra. The Harmoniemesse, characterized by the mastery of a mature Haydn, is unmistakably rich both musically and emotionally. It combines the joy of creating music with a deeply rooted faith.

The Harmoniemesse is characterized by an unusual orchestral, extensive woodwind and brass instrumentation, which gives it a luminous and often solemn sound. Haydn uses the different timbres of the winds to express emotional depth and spiritual grandeur, especially in the interplay with the choir and soloist quartet. The mass follows the traditional liturgical structure - Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei - and manages to combine the sacred and solemn with a human warmth and confidence.

Each of the parts has its own characteristic themes and musical nuances: The Kyrie has a modest, almost intimate beginning, which shapes the pleas of “Lord, have mercy” in a haunting, calm dialog between choir and soloists. In the Gloria, Haydn focuses on jubilation and dynamics. The choir and orchestra unleash their full power to make the praise of God musically lively and captivating. In the Credo, the profession of faith is set to music in a solemn tone and partly polyphonic structure. While the Sanctus evokes a sublime atmosphere, the Benedictus has a particularly tender and lyrical character. The final section, the Agnus Dei, gives the mass a hopeful, comforting note, which ultimately brings the Harmoniemesse to a peaceful close.

M. Haydn: Tres sunt qui testimonium dant (MH 183

As a short 4.5-minute additional work, we will sing Michael Haydn's “Tres sunt qui testimonium dant”. You will receive the sheet music with your registration. There are no practice parts or recordings of the work, but János Czifra is looking forward to practicing the work with the participants.

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Joseph Haydn was born on 31 March 1732 into a musical family living in poor circumstances in Rohrau (Lower Austria). At the age of eight, he came to St Stephen's as a choirboy. After his voice broke, he left the choir. Over the next ten years, he worked as a music teacher and repetiteur and helped out as a singer at masses on Sundays and public holidays. He became valet de chambre and accompanist to the Italian composer Nicola Porpora and lived in dreary conditions in a flat on Michaelerplatz. In 1759, at the age of 26, Haydn became music director and composer at the court of Prince Morzin, for whom he wrote his first symphonies and instrumental works. In 1761 he came to the court of the Esterházys, a very wealthy aristocratic family. There he developed his own style and experimented with the newly emerging style of Viennese Classicism.

In his younger years, Haydn mainly wrote instrumental music for the prince's table music and the concerts that took place every fortnight. He also wrote around 125 trios in ten years for the prince's instrument, the baryton. Nikolaus (Prince Miklós) Esterházy died in 1790 and his son Prince Antal had no interest in music. Despite this, Haydn remained in his service, but had the freedom to move to Vienna and travel.

During his first trip to London in 1791-1792, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University. Haydn composed his last twelve symphonies, the so-called Salomon or London Symphonies, for performances in London, which were great successes. Haydn spent the last ten years of his life in Vienna and wrote a large number of masses in the Austrian mass tradition.

Following this great success, Haydn composed The Seasons (1799-1801), which he completed at the age of 67. This work not only marked the beginning of a new century, but also the transition from objective classicism to more subjective romanticism. Haydn died peacefully on 31 May 1809 in Vienna, where many of his admirers kept vigil in front of his house.

Michael Haydn (1737-1806)

Michael Haydn was born on 14 Sept. 1737 in Rohrau, Lower Austria. After attending school in Hainburg, he was a choirboy at St Stephen's in Vienna, where he learnt the basics of theory as well as playing the violin and piano. As early as 1754, he composed the Trinity Mass, which is Haydn's first surviving composition. At the age of 20, Michael was employed by the Bishop of Großwardein and was appointed Kapellmeister in 1760.

In 1763, Michael Haydn came to Salzburg and remained there until his death. He entered the service of Prince-Archbishop Sigismund Count von Schrattenbach as ‘court musician and concertmaster’. In accordance with his function, he initially wrote instrumental music (symphonies, concertos, serenades, chamber music), as well as smaller church works and later operas. Michael Haydn wrote the sacred singspiel Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (Part 1) together with his colleagues Wolfgang A. Mozart and Cajetan Adlgasser.

The accession to power of Prince Archbishop Hieronymus Count Colloredo in 1772 brought major changes to the city's musical life, which meant that church music became the centre of Haydn's work. After he had created his Requiem in C minor as an exemplary work, the Hieronymus Mass followed in 1777 and the Rupertus Mass in 1782. After the death of the court organist, Haydn also took over the organist duties at the Holy Trinity Church and in 1782 - as the successor to Wolfgang A. Mozart - the function of court and cathedral organist and taught theory and composition to the cathedral choirboys at the Kapellhaus. In 1783, he was commissioned to replace the epistle sonatas customary at the cathedral with liturgical compositions (gradualia). At the same time, he revised the Salzburg church hymnal ‘Der hl. Gesang zum Gottesdienste in der r.k. Church’ and wrote German church music. Composition commissions from European royal courts (Spain: Missa a due cori; Imperial Court in Vienna: Theresien-Messe, Franciscus-Messe, Te Deum) and his appointment as a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (1804) document Haydn's recognition far beyond regional borders.

Michael Haydn died in 1806 at the age of 69 while composing his second Requiem and was buried in the cemetery of St Peter's in Salzburg.

W. A. Mozart: Requiem (KV 626, Süßmair Version)

When Wolfgang Amadé Mozart died on 5 December 1791, he left his Requiem in D minor (K. 626) unfinished. By the time of his death on 5 December 1791, he had only written down the opening movement of the Introit (Requiem aeternam) with all the orchestral and vocal parts. The following Kyrie and most of the Dies irae sequence (from the Dies irae to the Confutatis) were completed only in the vocal parts and the figured bass; in addition, some important orchestral parts (such as the trombone solo in the Tuba mirum, and more often the voice of the first violins) were briefly sketched. The last movement of the sequence, the Lacrimosa, broke off after eight bars and remained incomplete. The following two movements of the Offertory, the Domine Jesu Christe and the Hostias, were again elaborated in the vocal parts and partly in the continuo.

Through intermediaries acting for the eccentric Count Franz von Walsegg, Mozart was commissioned to compose a Requiem. The Count, who was an amateur musician and often commissioned works only to pass them off as his own composition (a practice that was widespread at the time), requested a Requiem to be performed in memory of his recently deceased wife. Mozart received half the payment in advance, so after Mozart's death his widow Konstanze was keen to have the work completed quickly and secretly by someone else so that she could deliver it as Mozart's composition and collect the remaining payment. At first she turned to Joseph Eybler. He worked on the orchestration of the movements from the Dies irae to the Lacrimosa, but then returned the commission.

The work was then entrusted to Franz Xaver Süßmayr, composer and pupil of Mozart, who was able to draw on Eybler's work for the orchestration. Süßmayr completed the orchestration of the Sequence as well as the Offertory, finished the Lacrimosa and composed further movements: Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei. Then he completed the Communio (Lux aeterna) by repeating the two opening movements, which Mozart had still composed himself, and underlaying them with the text of the Lux aeterna.

The completed composition, begun by Mozart and largely completed by Süssmayr, was given to Count Franz von Walsegg with Mozart's forged signature and dated 1792. The confusion surrounding the circumstances of this Requiem composition was largely spread by Mozart's widow Konstanze herself. Konstanze had a difficult task ahead of her: she had to keep the secret that Mozart had died before completing the composition so that she could claim the balance of the payment for the commissioned work. For a time, she had to keep secret that Süssmayr was involved with the composition in order to make Count Walsegg believe that he had Mozart's work in his hands. After receiving the balance of the fee, she had to promote the work as Mozart's composition in order to continue to use it as a source of income for publications and performances. During this phase, it was still important to make the public believe that Mozart had composed the entire work himself in order to extract higher sums from publishers and public performances. It is thanks to Konstanze that the first half-truths and myths began to circulate almost immediately after Mozart's death. She claimed that Mozart had declared that he was writing the Requiem for himself and that he had been poisoned. His condition deteriorated and he began to complain of painful swelling of his body and high fever. Despite all this, Mozart continued to work on the Requiem and even on the last day of his life he explained to his assistant how he intended to end the work. Even in biographies written shortly after Mozart's death, there are numerous inconsistencies that make it almost impossible to solve all the mysteries surrounding Mozart's last composition.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

The youngest child and only surviving son of the Austrian composer Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus received his early musical education from his father. His musical talent was evident from the very beginning, and as a result Mozart is considered one of the greatest musical geniuses of all.

At the age of six, Wolfgang and his very talented sister "Nannerl" went on their first major tour with their father to the most important ruling courts of Europe, where they delighted audiences with virtuoso concerts on the harpsichord. This concert tour was to be followed by many more. Of all the places where Mozart gave concerts during his travels, it was Italy where he received the greatest joy and recognition.

After that followed a rather disappointing period for father and son. As Mozart grew older, his popularity waned and he initially had trouble finding work. Eventually Mozart was offered the position of court and cathedral organist by the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. At the beginning of 1781, the commissioned work, the opera Idomeneo, was premiered in Munich for the Regent of Bavaria. The success of the opera strengthened Mozart's decision to move to Vienna, where he was favorably received by the nobility.

He thus spent the last ten years of his life, often in straitened financial circumstances, in Vienna with his wife, the singer Constanze Weber. Initial success with German and Italian opera and with a large number of concerts was followed by a period of great financial difficulties. Although this development had no direct effect on Mozart's music, it eventually destroyed his health. Mozart became seriously ill and died on the morning of December 5, 1791. Mozart was buried in an ordinary tombstone-less grave in Vienna, at the St. Marx cemetery.